Overview

Our ACGME accredited program is open for application to medical students interested in specializing in plastic surgery residency. Our program is a 6 year residency, with approximately experiences dedicated to both general surgery and plastic surgery as mandated. We are the premier, primary plastic surgery program in the DC area, with foot prints in Southern Maryland and Northern Virginia.

History

The plastic surgery program at Georgetown was founded in 1954 by Dr. Albert Fleury, followed continued growth under Dr. J William Little. Georgetown has had a rich history in surgical innovation, and innovation in plastic surgery. Dr. Radovan developed the first tissue expander as a general surgery resident in 1976. Dr. Scott L Spear stood at the helm of the program in 1992. In this year, he submitted to the RRC one of the first designs of an integrated plastic surgery program. Although most plastic surgery programs are integrated now, at the time, this concept was revolutionary. With the help of Dr. Stephen B Baker as program director, the program acquired training cites, evolving into a city wide training program. With pioneering work in nipple sparing mastectomy and advocacy in Congress during the breast implant moratorium, he transformed Georgetown into a nationally recognized program and a center for innovation in plastic surgery.

Fresh off his presidency from the American Society of Plastic Surgery, in 2017, Dr. David H Song joined as Physician Executive Director of MedStar Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, as well as Chief of the Department of Plastic Surgery at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. Since his arrival, we have grown the program for 24 resident spots for a total of 4 per year. We are now a region wide training program, with expansion into Southern Maryland, Baltimore, and Northern Virginia. We continue to add faculty to offer world class patient care and surgical training.

Core Objectives by Year

PGY1

Intern year comprises of a collection of general surgery, plastic surgery, anesthesia, and emergency medicine exposure organized in one month blocks. The objective of this year is to teach new doctors principles of patient care, and to expose interns to the beginnings of plastic surgery principles.

PGY2

The second year is organized into longer rotations, focused on lower extremity limb salvage, general plastic surgery, hand surgery, and surgical intensive care. In many of these rotations, the PGY2 will serve as second in command to assist a chief of service in running operations on the floor.

PGY3

Third year residents are expected to be able to run busy services, as the lower extremity limb salvage service. This includes coordinating a large team of residents, taking lead on collaborating with other services, making the operating room schedule, and directing attending rounds. In addition, third years have graduated responsibility in the operating room, and are expected to be able to plan and execute basic operations under supervision.

PGY4

Fourth year residents are fully immersed into the field with rotations in general plastic surgery, and craniofacial surgery. Furthermore, while our third years are exposed to microsurgery, fourth year residents become first assist in the microsurgical portion of cases.

PGY5

Fifth year residents further hone their skill, as they prepare to enter chief year. Additional rotations in aesthetic surgery, oral maxillofacial surgery, and elective time are added to broaden their understanding of plastic surgery.

PGY6

Chief year is when "it all comes together". With close supervision, chief residents should be fully capable of performing the gamut of plastic surgery operations from simple debridements to complex microsurgical reconstructions. Furthermore, they run their own aesthetic clinic, see their own patients, and perform their own cases. Educating the juniors is one of the main pillars of this year as well, as chief residents crystallize what they know through mentorship.

Didactic Curriculum

Conferences are held weekly from 6am to 10am on Thursdays. The first hour generally focuses on a topic directed educational for all faculty and residents, with journal clubs, QI conference, and visiting professors. The second through fourth hours focus on resident education, with continued visiting professor discussion, PSEN modules, and case presentations.

Every month or two, we have an evening journal club with focused discussion on topics ranging from limb salvage to craniofacial surgery.

Quarterly, we have national and international visiting professors and anatomy workshops.

PGY 4-6 have department sponsored meetings with dedicated time to attend those meetings: